Which diet? Over 60 and other issues

[Suburbanqueen]

Hi everyone. I need advice about which diet to follow. I am 62, 3 stone overweight and am on 2 drugs which cause weight gain (pregabalin and quetiapine) so it's not going to be easy. I did do the Dukan diet a few years back and that helped. I have also done calorie counting back in the day. The drugs do make me hungry and I know I eat far too much of the wrong things.
Has anyone had similar experience and could recommend a good regime to follow?

Thanks

I can't help re the drugs, but I'd seriously recommend that you read Why We Eat (Too Much) by Dr Andrew Jenkinson.

If you've had success with the Dukan diet before, that would suggest that a low carb diet would work for you anyway, which is what this way of eating definitely recommends.

Thank you B. I will seek it out. Yes, was thinking low carb. Has anyone tried the Keto diet? Thoughts?

I’m on Gabapentin & was on Quetiapine.

I had done paleo in the past but things like that, and keto, aren’t sustainable long term. Yes I know people say they’ve lost x amount and have been doing it 8 months, 12 months, 18 months or whatever but They won’t be able to keep it up forever and as soon as they eat normally-bang! The weight is back on.

I know one person on keto who sent their cholesterol up to over 13, triggering a consultation at the hospital. High fat isn’t healthy. lower carbs is healthy & good fats such as avocado, oily fish etc but you can’t cut carbs then start eating cheese, drinking cream & using coconut oil freely without it potentially having bad a effect!

The thing that finally clicked and resulted in 3.5 stone weight loss for me is weighing and logging everything I consume on My Fitness Pal.
It’s seriously been an eye opener.
Some sandwiches can have more calories in than a carefully portioned roast dinner. I haven’t cut anything out I just make choices to enable me stick to my calorie target -if I want a glass of wine I have less potato for dinner, if I want that chocolate after lunch I need to make a lower calorie dinner.

I seriously wish I’d educated myself decades ago instead of stuffing a wagon wheel/packet of crisps/bar of chocolate/wine/cake etc etc etc in my face and thinking ‘well that’s not too many calories, it won’t have an effect on my weight……. I will just have this and I will be good tomorrow’.

Portion control is everything. A small Jacket potato and baked beans may be healthy BUT if your jacket potato is massive, you’ve added butter and 3/4 tin of beans it could still be calorific.

Good luck!

Wise words Deleted. Thank you

@DeletedByAccident

I’m on Gabapentin & was on Quetiapine.

I had done paleo in the past but things like that, and keto, aren’t sustainable long term. Yes I know people say they’ve lost x amount and have been doing it 8 months, 12 months, 18 months or whatever but They won’t be able to keep it up forever and as soon as they eat normally-bang! The weight is back on.

I know one person on keto who sent their cholesterol up to over 13, triggering a consultation at the hospital. High fat isn’t healthy. lower carbs is healthy & good fats such as avocado, oily fish etc but you can’t cut carbs then start eating cheese, drinking cream & using coconut oil freely without it potentially having bad a effect!

The thing that finally clicked and resulted in 3.5 stone weight loss for me is weighing and logging everything I consume on My Fitness Pal.
It’s seriously been an eye opener.
Some sandwiches can have more calories in than a carefully portioned roast dinner. I haven’t cut anything out I just make choices to enable me stick to my calorie target -if I want a glass of wine I have less potato for dinner, if I want that chocolate after lunch I need to make a lower calorie dinner.

I seriously wish I’d educated myself decades ago instead of stuffing a wagon wheel/packet of crisps/bar of chocolate/wine/cake etc etc etc in my face and thinking ‘well that’s not too many calories, it won’t have an effect on my weight……. I will just have this and I will be good tomorrow’.

Portion control is everything. A small Jacket potato and baked beans may be healthy BUT if your jacket potato is massive, you’ve added butter and 3/4 tin of beans it could still be calorific.

Good luck!

High fat is not unhealthy. The scientific community has admitted that the link between saturated fat and heart disease is deeply flawed. Those who get heart disease tend to eat a combination of high fat and high carb, which is the problem, not the fat itself. A low carb diet doesn’t necessarily raise cholesterol either, although there will always be anecdotes of people who have experienced that. Many find their bad cholesterol drops.

Calorie counting works for a while, sure, but the majority of people are fighting a losing battle with it. Once you reach a BMI of 35 you have a miniscule chance of getting to a normal BMI and keeping it there. And while it’s easy to say ‘watch your portion sizes’, if your body is determined to make you eat, it will eventually win over your willpower. Overweight and obese people aren’t greedy gluttonous idiots - their bodies are literally telling them to eat way more than they need and much more forcefully than normal weight people experience. And as we know with other bodily functions (sleep, going to the toilet etc) there’s only so far that you can fight your body. Eventually it will do what it wants to do which is why over 95% of people who lose weight can’t keep it off long. Low carb gets rid of that extreme hunger which is why many have success with it (that and in extreme cases, bariatric surgery).

I'm in the very early stages, got 2 stone + to lose, I'm 55. What's helped me and this is the first time I've done it is I've joined Slimming World, no online but a class were I'm weighed every week, and I think the knowing I'm going tobe weighed is the key. I try to make things very simple, I have the same breakfast everyday, home made porridge with banana. Lunch I try have something no syns, usually a couple of boiled eggs, lots of prawns and a banana. Tea I plan every day for the whole family always a slimming world version, I've given up alcahol at home and cut out all chocolate and crops. . I have had an event every weekend since I've started and I've eaylten and drunk what I've wanted. Over 6 weeks I've lost half a stone, I've lost every week admittedly only a llb one week, but I've always lost and never put on. HTH.

I am on pregablin and used to take quetiapin.

Quetiapin made me gain a huge amount of weight. I felt constantly ravenous! I did loose the weight though through calorie counting and swapping to the slow release quetiapin.

That was a few years ago. I recently (well a couple of years ago) lost 2.5 stone doing keto. I no longer take quetiapin but do take pregablin. I've managed to sustain the weight loss but am now low carb.

Calorie counter here, aged 62. For me, it's the only thing that works. It's a constant battle of wills, but I accept that. It gets harder and harder the older I get.

I don't cut things out but I am completely accountable. I stay accountable by wearing jeans that are tight (and non-stretchy) as a reminder to myself.

Thanks everyone. I will seriously consider Slimmimg World and I am weaning myself off Quetiapine. It is about eating crap with me. I don't eat big meals but do stuff rubbish down when I am hungry. Also my back problem makes it difficult to exercise.

Not been on the medicines you have but have lost 4 stone over 3 years. Also did suffer from sciatica. I have a diet which is a nod really to the others mentioned. I do eat starchy food but in small enough amounts not to affect me much, so one roast potato and a small Yorkshire pudding with a roast dinner, for example. What I do is use FitBit, it logs my activity for me & I can enter my food on the app to ensure a deficit. Ensuring a deficit is easy. Just cut the portion of the main dish, lasagna for example ( maybe in half) and add half a plateful of salad or non starchy veg. Don't eat lots of bread or potatoes or rice or pasta. Always have the side salad or non starchy veg accompaniment. This website is good for working out the calorie counts of home cooked meals.

https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076

Exercise wise, you'd be surprised even a little can really make a difference. It helps protect against insulin resistance, heart disease, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, helps sleep, protects against stress and dementia- all really good. Do what you can. If that's just walking, then walk everyday. If you can do some resistance exercises do them. I found I could run on watching those:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9L2b2khySLE

And never looked back, felt like I had been given a gift!